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Homes Recover Their Value

A new report shows 91% of all mortgaged residential properties have equity

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Note: Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming have insufficient equity data to report at this time.

CoreLogic
Note: Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia and Wyoming have insufficient equity data to report at this time.
CoreLogic

Homes in the U.S. are regaining their value as the real-estate market improves. The number of mortgaged residential properties with equity rose in the second quarter, bringing the total to about 45.9 million units, CoreLogic said in a new report. According to the real estate data provider, 759,000 properties recovered equity between April and June. The gain means that 91% of all mortgaged residential properties have equity. The equity of a home is the difference between its market value and the amount outstanding in its mortgage. Nationwide, borrower equity increased by $691 billion in the second quarter from the same period in 2014. On the other hand, 4.4 million mortgaged residential properties were “underwater” in the second quarter. The term refers to borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth. The number from the second quarter represents a drop of 19.4% from a year ago. “Home price appreciation and foreclosure completions both reduce the number of homeowners with negative equity, the latter because most homeowners who lost homes through foreclosure had some level of negative equity," said Frank Nothaft, chief economist for CoreLogic, in a statement. CoreLogic’s national Home Price Index rose 5.6% in the year ended in June while the number of homes completing foreclosure proceedings exceeded 500,000. The firm predicts prices will rise 4.7% over the next year, allowing 800,000 homeowners to regain positive equity. Nevada was the state with the highest percentage of mortgaged residential properties in negative equity (20.6%). Texas had the highest rate of properties in positive equity (97.9%). Read the full report here. Write to Andrea López Cruzado at andrea.lopez@dowjones.com Follow Mansion Global on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Write to us at info@mansionglobal.com